The Testimony of the Holy Spirit

Many today feel that Christian belief in the Scriptures is not rationally justified. Faith is seen as an irrational necessity that is permissible only if it does not touch upon aspects of life that are governed by more sensible, rational analysis. Many today believe that faith deals with that which is unknown (unreal) and reason has to do with that which is the “real” reality.

On the contrary, belief in Scripture is not fideism (a belief that is arbitrarily chosen with no rational justification). Rather, Christians trust the Scriptures upon the most rationally justifiable grounds: the testimony of God, who does not lie. The Christian knows this testimony through the written word of God, and is made able to see its indisputability (despite spiritual blindness) by the Spirit of God. This is what Calvin called the “self-authentication” of Scripture. Elsewhere, he follows Hilary of Poitiers (a doctor in the early church), stating that “God is his own best witness.”

While we don’t shy away from demonstrating the truthfulness and reliability of the Scriptures in manifold ways, using reason and evidences, we know it will fall upon deaf ears without the Holy Spirit. Though all creation and providence affirm the message of Scripture, men are blind until the Spirit illuminates their minds. Calvin states, “unless this certainty [from the Spirit], higher and stronger than any human judgment, be present, it will be vain to fortify the authority of Scripture by argument.” Therefore, let Christians pray that the Spirit of God would mercifully revive hearts to hear his voice in the Scriptures.

ARG